Election night in The Great White North

I have had the above pic sitting on my iMac desktop for a few weeks and finally got to use it.

Much like I did last year for the UK, I am staying up late, drinking a couple brews, and watching the election coverage in Canada. Behind this Word document I have a live feed streaming from cbc.ca.

Soooooo, Ca-na-da. You know? That massive country just to the north of us with universal health care, high quality teen TV dramas, and a few other viable political parties at the federal level? Just like the Britons, they have a pretty badass public broadcasting network. I have sorely neglected the CBC as a source for international and North American news, which I will do no more. Its news page is now a bookmark in my “News” toolbar folder.

The CBC is reporting that Prime Minster Stephen Harper’s party, the Conservatives, won a majority of seats in Ottawa. (Harper is now making his way through the crowd at his election night shindig in Calgary for a victory speech. He is at the podium and speaking a little French, which is apparently a nod to the Quebecois, who decided to ditch their own separatist party en masse.) The commentators are saying Harper is possibly poised to be Prime Minster for nine years.

Oh, wow. Elongated vowels — Canadian style.

Just like in the UK last year, the Green Party has gained its first elected seat at Canada’s federal level. Green Party leader (the CBC is using the style “Leader” so I can only assume it is a proper title) Elizabeth May will be representing the constituents of Saanich-Gulf Islands in British Columbia. (One of the CBC analysts said the Greens “are no longer a party in theory.” Fuck you.)

Instead of “districts” or “constituencies,” the Canadians apparently have “ridings.”

So how many Americans do you think knew the Canadians had a federal election today? Probably not many, since the death of Osama bin Laden has oversaturated the American news sources. Even without the über nationalism harkening back to the days of 9/11, I am sure most Americans would not care or know about tonight’s election in our neighbors to the north. What it means? You have me stumped there.

Just like the UK, the color code for Conservatives is blue and red for Liberals, completely opposite of what we have in the US. It’s a little confusing, but, thankfully, there is a third color (orange) included in the province-by-province maps. According to one reporter, “orange is the new red.” (Holy shit! A third major party! What a concept.)

Peter Mansbridge is wrapping up the national coverage (“the thrills and spills of an election night in Canada”), thanking the broadcast and reporting staff. Much like the BBC’s coverage of last year’s UK election, the coverage on the CBC was very crisp, clean, and tasteful. It was very modular; there were lots of straight lines, boxes, and colors. (I should have taken a design class in college.) It is refreshing, though I do not think I watched the 2010 election coverage on the major networks or local affiliates. (I’m sure it was ugly as always.)

Canada now has a majority government. Time to drink some beer (for whatever reason). (Bobblehead, the politicnik, needs to help me understand the parliamentary system a little better.)